EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ray J Reveals Why He's Leaving 'Reckless Ray' Behind

Welcome back to the TMZ podcast. I am Tawanda here and I have a very special guest today. This is someone who I consider a brother. Now we have gotten super close over the years. Um, and Ray is just, honestly, he is one of a kind. Uh, every time I talk to this man on the phone, I am literally in tears. Um, I am joined by none other than the icon Ray J. That's a lot. I mean, Unk is a lot. Right. I'm still here. I'm still like, you know, thank you for coming. Finally. Thank you. It took me, I have been trying to get you in the studio for a good months. Well, I've, I've, I've been, I've been all over the place. I know I got to, now I got to go in there like deep, deep training. And so I wanted to make sure that I stopped by and make sure we got it done. And in this like time capsule that we're in now until the next training, I don't, I've told you time and time again, after that last fight, we saw you where, um, oh boy, knocked your ass out so fast. I don't think I got, it was, it was a knockdown. Knockdown? It was a knockdown. It looked like you were like seeing stars. I was definitely seeing stars. And it was a lot of them in the audience too. So I saw A, B and D and I saw Chris Brown. I mean, I saw Ruby Rose. I mean, I saw Neon ******* six. I mean, it was, it was definitely, I saw stars. They were everywhere. Stop looking over there. They were everywhere. Um, I'm looking everywhere. Yeah. Don't stay. So you just want me to look at you? Type ----. Okay. Yes. I looked everywhere on all my interviews, but that's fine. Okay. Well, you usually have my sunglasses. Well, are those the glasses that don't break? These break. Those break. Yeah. But I'm working on the unbreakables right now. You're working on the unbreakable? Yeah. Because the last glasses I had and shout out to Charles Koppelman, he passed away and, um, shout out to Jenny and the whole family, but they, um, they, they have a brand called bunny eyes, uh, E Y E with a Z bunny eyes. And that's where the convertible drop went. And the unbreakables, uh, with speedy just evolved. But, um, these are from CVS. Um, I think maybe don't do the unbreakables. I think we're, we're good. I think all glasses are going to break. So no, you're going to love these. They're made with like this new, like, uh, sandpaper and like goo and like a kind of experience. It sounds real sturdy. It's not. Okay. Um, but anyways, back to, to you, you said you got to go train. Uh, you got knocked out in the last boxing match. You, uh, was a super hot fire. I don't remember. Um, but you went to, you were hospitalized after this, your doctors told you, you know, you do not need to be going out there doing things like this. You don't need to be fighting. You already got a bad heart. Um, we'll get to that a little bit later, but a little bit later. Yes. Okay. We'll get back. We'll get to it. Okay. But, um, why, why fight again? Um, well, I'm getting older and you want to go out with a bang. You want to go out with a bang knowing that you're going to advance or you should advance into just a new routine, um, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Right. These are kind of like the final reckless moments that I'm going to have leading into like this new way. And that's if God allows me to continue to live, right. Um, then eventually you got to start switching it up. And so that's where I'm headed to. And before I do that officially, you know, you just want to, you know, scratch everything and check everything off your bucket list and, um, and just do some crazy ---- before you, um, you make that transition. So that's where I'm at now. What are you going to transition to from? So we have reckless Ray right now, and you're saying you're going to transition from reckless Ray into. So you go from reckless Ray. You, you, you take everything you learn from the reckless experiences, the business experiences when I was doing tech, um, the TV experiences, reality and relationships, and you put them all together. And I think you just become a wiser person. So is it, is it going to be loud anymore after this run? Probably not. And to me, that's disappointing. And it's not okay. Uh, because, because we can always take it there. Right. But again, you have to evolve into something new and their seasons that change, we're embarking on that right now. Does that mean no more streaming? No, I mean, no, just a different stream. Um, just a wiser person and going into more, I don't know if it's positive or negative what we're doing or saying, but it's, it's definitely probably going to be less exciting and less explosive as far as, um, from the, I don't give a side of it. So no, like showering with men or, you know, I want to, I want to, I want to make this stamp, look at what we have. And if it is going to be that showers will be bigger, productions will be thicker, video village will be more intense and content will be flushed out faster. So, uh, I think if it is that it's just all now, it's all going towards a comedic performance as opposed to people taking it too serious, right? Cause I think a lot of times we might say a lot of crazy ---- and they're not looking at it in that comedic like mode, they're, they're taking it too serious. So it's more leaning into like more comedy and then just having fun, but you already know I'm around from the beginning. I always tell people when I, when I talk about you, I say Ray is the most unprofessional professional person. I know. Thank you. And that's, that's, that's, you are actually, people might be surprised, like despite the, the, the trolling and all the antics that you do, you're actually kind of really professional. Thank you. I appreciate you. If you were, if you're booked for something in a certain, in a certain time, there's been situations you've hosted our TMZ after dark bus. And there's been times where, you know, we've had two buses running and a celebrity is 30, 40 minutes late. You're there 20 minutes early. So we run both buses. Then you also get on the bus and then you act a damn fool. So that's where the, you know, the unprofessional comes in, but you mean the running around the street, like damn near butt naked. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's more performative for me. How do you, but like, how do you, how do you get people to take you serious? Because you've done a lot of business ventures. You're at, you're successful, but do you ever turn off the, like, is this because I've known you and you're always like this, but do you ever turn off like reckless Ray antics, right? Well, you know me, but you, but you also know me for turning it on and off. Like, and you know, I know we was supposed to link up the last couple of times. So today I'm like, I'm going to be ultra early. I don't know about you were like, yeah, you were down for like an hour. I hit you at 10 30 today. Um, just cause now I wanted you to know that I'm upset that we didn't link the last few days. I was, and I said, I said, you know, after, after I go get my past passport, I'm going to come straight here and I'm going to be on time. And I ain't even dressed up today. Cause I didn't know if it was, if it was good and I didn't either, but I can, but I've, you know, I like to gamble. Um, and so I found, finally I found a perfect site to gamble on at home as opposed to going to the casinos. No, it's not. I'm just saying, I don't want to do that. One of those people that be on like, Oh, look at this game and you can then win instant money. Well, you can, but you can win instant money at the slots too. In Vegas doesn't mean you're not going to win and lose, but at least I can gamble at home. You probably don't need to be doing that. I shouldn't. So, Hey, you gamble with fun money, right? All the options are there. And then I like Jack because it gives me like this, like, why, why are you doing that? I'm trying to be serious. I don't want this. It's never promo for me. I know this just works for me. I know jack.com is a lot. It could mean anything. Yeah. That's why I had to make sure it was appropriate for this pop that, you know, we can show it on the podcast. And that's why nobody's mentioned it all day, but everybody knows what Jack means. It can mean Jack up. I've never heard anyone. It can mean Jack down and can mean Jack on or what's the biggest misconception you think people have about you? Is that I'm, is that I'm serious? That's a misconception. Is that you're serious? Is that I'm serious. So like, what do you mean? Meaning the most of the time I'm just ******* around. So like prime example, you, you really scared a lot of people when you, you had a show, a concert or something and you went on stage and you had blood coming out of your eyes. Well, at that time I had glasses on a lot of people take what I do and they clip it into what they want it to be. And I can't help that. Like I can only continue to live. Um, if you watch the full video, I'm in the back trying to wipe it off. What was it? You just what it was. So that was actual, but listen, I don't want to not get booked. Okay. I don't want, I don't want to not get booked anymore for shows. So I don't like to dig deep into like some of the, maybe the issues that we're going through, you know, behind the lines. I just want to continue to have fun while I'm here. Whether it's me being sick sometimes and still going and doing a show or just fighting through the mess that's in front of us. You know what I'm saying? And being a champion through the pain and through what the entertainment industry gives you or, or you, you experience. I still want to have fun. You know what I'm saying? So I might be fucked up right now. That's not going to stop me from during the day, having a good laugh with the team and talking to my friends or calling my parents or Brandi or, or whoever I'm around and having a little bit of fun throughout the day, just to say, God, thank you. I'm still here. Speaking of your parents and your family, how do they feel when they see these stories like Ray's bleeding out of his eyes or Ray's about to go fight Orlando Brown after he just got out of the hospital? Ray said he slept with this amount of women. How do your parents feel when they see these, these stories and these headlines and these social media posts of you of reckless Ray? Yeah. I mean, a lot of that stuff is just life experiences in a reckless way. Um, I think that at that moment, when they see stuff like that, they're learning new stuff about me. Right. So I think they're just learning that they call you. I'm not going to call my mom and tell her personally, Hey mom, I slept with this many women. I can't do that. Right. Cause it's just, I can. And my mom's helped me with, with several problems that I was going through. Um, whether it was women, whether it was the entertainment business, whether it was some kind of physical pain I was going through. Um, and so again, the goal is not to take all of this too serious if we're off camera and we're not in this world that we're in and I'm telling you something and I'm looking you in the eye and it's totally just, you know, off the record. Then it's a little more serious, but I think that we're in a world now where Andy Kaufman could cheat his skills back in the day, but now there's trolling and there's other things now to where people are, are, are getting a lot better at it. But I've always loved the Andy Kaufman kind of play role. And that's where you're over your, you planned it to the point where everything seems real, but everything we've planned and put together has all been done from a comedic or a serious or a scripted, you know, point of view, but you just don't know it because people aren't into that kind of content anymore. They want real, they want to at least feel like it's real. Do you think today's influencers, streamers, content creators have it easier? Is it easier for them to get big than it was when you were coming up? I think streamers now and influencers and the people who are entertaining now, there's multiple platforms where you can be yourself and you don't have to get the audition. Before there, it was a limited amount of cameras or a limited amount of production or platforms where you could really do your thing. So you had to go and audition for stuff. And that's what we experienced. Now you can just do it on your phone and figure out the right codes or figuring out the way to scale or be consistent and do it. It still all takes hard work. It's harder to do it now than then. Then it was a bigger lottery pick. So if I got, let's say, one on one sitcom or the Sinbad show, there was a lot of kids auditioning and then we narrow it down to the last two. And then you got to go to that audition and get it. Now you don't have to do that. Hard work speaks for itself now. And so you eliminate the third party, you eliminate the producer, the director and everybody around. And if you give it that consistency and you got a strong digital team who knows how to scale the numbers, then you got a strong team. So I think the opportunities are endless now. Interesting. How do you, as someone who's always literally on the Internet for something crazy, how do you protect your mental mental health is like such a big thing that, you know, I feel like in the black community and especially with black men, we're starting to see more, you know, high profile people talking about it, bringing it to the forefront, mental health issues, you know. Were you in that roundtable with Kirk Franklin? I did the round. He was talking about mental health and. Yeah, and I had a very crazy time there. And shout out to Kirk Franklin because he took out a lot of stuff in that in that. How long was how long did you guys sit down and talk? I think it was for like three hours. Yeah, because it's hard to because like I've noticed when doing podcasts, you talk about a lot of stuff. If you can go for a really long time, it's really hard to condense and put something of substance out like in a 45 minute hour time frame. But how was that experience? What else did I talk about that didn't make it? And again, how do you protect your mental, your mental peace in such a public lifestyle? Well, shout out to Kirk Franklin and anybody that talks to me. I mean, you could be the the the the king of popcorn, right? The king of creating, I don't know, FX six and nines from Sony. I'm still going to be me when we talk or we hang out, especially if you invite me. I want to learn from certain people like Jonathan Majors or Kirk Franklin. And there was some comedians on the show that were really cool. Yeah. And Ali Chapa on there. And it was very frustrating to me because I really wanted to give advice from like a Jonathan Majors who's overcome a lot of obstacles and is sitting at the table. And Ali didn't give him to me the opportunity to help us. And neither did Kirk. So I hit Kirk after like, bro, you told me I was here to help, like you were here to help and I was going to learn something from this. And I was frustrated about the whole thing. And and I expect I express myself in that kind of frustration. Could I pull back here? But he had my back. Could he have just let the cameras roll and just keep it unedited? I thought he should have. But but maybe I said some ---- or did some ---- that was really out of bounds. I don't remember. All I know is that I wanted to learn more and I wanted to talk to Kirk more and I wanted to talk to Jonathan Majors more. And I didn't get that opportunity. I was very frustrated. And I think it showed in in the in the time we all spent together. When you say you weren't given the opportunity, what do you mean? Like they wouldn't allow you to talk? No. And Ali was talking over everybody. And so I couldn't. Every time Jonathan Majors said something, Ali had some advice for him. And I was I was going, yo, how can you give some advice to him? There's no way you don't think Ali has been through things. I think at the time he was like 20. You don't think 21 have gone through stuff? I went through stuff at 20, but 20 and 40 is not the same. And you can only understand that when you get to that age. When I was 20, an old person says to me, me and the homies would just laugh at him and go this old ass. What is he talking about? Because some of this we were doing was working. But as you get older, you start hitting these walls and running into like these buildings or running into like something that you didn't expect. And you make these mistakes. Some are forgivable. Some aren't. Some are are mistakes that you can't get back. You can't get back on track. It could be the ultimate one where you're done. You're completely and utterly, if I'm saying it right, canceled. Yeah. And so I want to make sure that we don't have that in front of us. That's like a wide margin of that. And so we're not really serious most of the time when we having fun. We're just around. And then there's times when you should be serious and we still around. And there's times when you're supposed to be very serious in situations and we still don't give a ****. Right. And so we got to work on that. You do. I do. I do have to, you know, do I want to? No, you should. I have to. Yeah, it's I'm coming around the corner to it. These are the final times that it's kind of you say that I have a hard time believing that. But that also gets me into my next question. You know, every time I see you're really good, you're really good on this. You're doing great. Thank you. Right. All right. So let's go back. What were you saying? I interrupted you. Every time I, um, which is quite often anytime I open Instagram, you know, I see on the Shade Room, Hollywood Unlocked, TMZ. Make sure you say the big ones. You know, yeah, the Shade Room. Neighborhood Talk. Neighborhood Talk, TMZ. Jasmine Brands. Yep. Word. Like Daily Mail. Like some German, German ones. It's a mothafucka. So I'm in Belgium. It's I'm in Europe. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm global. People. Okay. Yeah. So whenever I get on, you know, and there's a Ray J headline, I go to the comments and a lot of the times the comments are cancel Ray J. I'm tired of seeing him. Oh, when are we going to stop making him a thing? Do you think you're uncancelable? Because every single time I always look at the likes and the numbers, they're always high. Comments are always are always there. Every time we post a story, I'll call you so many times. I'm like, damn, Ray, you're at the top of the board again. Yeah. Oh, for which one am I actually on here twice? Yeah. Do you think you're uncancelable? Why do you think people are drawn to you? You know, it is not for me to think, because when we're in this vortex or in this simulation, once we think about that, then we lose. We have to just stay and play our position. And and if you have 15000 negative comments, that's amazing. That's amazing. Fifteen thousand negative comments. Fifteen, twenty thousand, five thousand, eight thousand, whatever it is, because it's the scale of the numbers, it's whether it's concurrent viewership or whether it's, you know, the the people watching and how much they interact inside of the chat or inside of the post, good or bad, you can scale that. So people got to see it for what it is as it's a business. And it's also a certain genre of this kind of content. And then you have this kind of content and that kind of content. I'm a big fan of like Richard Pryor. OK, or Mike Tyson or or, you know, Red Fox or or Andy Kaufman. And these these are this is uncut content. There's no it's not it's very unapologetic. So if you want this kind of content, then we're going to give it to you. If you don't want this kind of content, then there's so many different things you can pick from. So don't put this content in that content or in that genre. You know what you're looking for. Like when people hire me at this very point right now today, without me making a change or switching it up, then what do you actually want from me? You don't want nothing that's not allowed. So if I don't do my job when I'm done and I was like, I'm a changed man and I'm I'm living my differently. I know you've seen some things, but it's totally different now. You immediately have the producers worried and that's not what we want, actually scared and actually feel like if you were getting paid that they got. Yeah, we won't. Why didn't he? He didn't do it the normal. So when I come to do something, I'm hired. I'm like, so what do you want from me? And they're like, well, turn it up, but not turn it all the way up. And so I get it. Yeah. Or turn it all the way. Do you think you're cancelable? Do you think you could do you think there is something that you would do could do in the future that would get you canceled? Do you think that you are cancelable? I think everybody is. And I think once you don't think that you immediately get canceled and that comes from not being humble and that comes from when you make a mistake, you don't look at that and go, OK, I need to definitely make some adjustments. How far do I need to make them? Well, we'll we'll work it out. But I don't think that I don't think that you should ever feel like you're not cancelable. Cancelable. Is that a word? I think so. I said it. You said it, too, right? Yes. I just think that there's there's a time and a place to go all the way to the edge. But don't jump off unless you know that where you're jumping to your feet and legs can handle the fall. So Ray, with the serious metaphor there, look at you. It's it's it's it's inevitable for people to to to fall off if you just keep on going. And I fell into so many bricks and walls and a lot of over over time. And then I did it again and again and again and again. So I'm happy that I'm still able to be here. And we've been through those experiences. I mean, I've been on the bus and then it was like, well, this week, this week, we're going to have to pull back because of certain that was done and said. And then maybe two months later, it's all good again. That's a blessing because one mistake could be could be could be it. And that's like committing a crime. You can do a small crime or you can do a crime that's so heinous. You're done and there's nothing nobody can do about it. And so the more you go there and you can't turn it off, you're going to fall. So I've always been able to turn it all the way on with some of the greats and talent with some of the best, because that's what that's what we are. That's what we're doing. And then when it's like it's over, I get in the car and I go home. You know, what is like when the cameras are off? Are you in a relationship right now? What's going on with your divorce? I'm in a relationship with my kids and my baby mama. Are you so you're not are you divorced? You ought to know. Why do y'all why y'all fall for y'all? Are y'all like Cardi B and Offset? Y'all get mad at each other and then do something drastic. Why have y'all filed for divorce so much? But then it not it hasn't hasn't gone through. I'm not familiar with Cardi B and Offset. You remember when they was together and she would like find something out and then go on like spaces or clubhouse and go off. No off. I've seen Cardi B go off. But but, you know, Cardi B's also been on the same franchise that we've been on, which is Love and Hip Hop. And she made a career where she became a mega artist off of being a mega reality star. So like a talent, you know, I think off of being a mega reality star. I think so. Yeah, because she was on Love and Hip Hop. Yeah. For like, I mean, a little bit. That's what she made a rake. That's kind of I think Bodak Yellow was more so. That's where she became into like a superstar. And that man and who was a DJ with a DJ booth. I'm not familiar with I'm playing none of her music. I'm not familiar with Cardi B's run. I just know that she was on Love and Hip Hop. And I know that she became a mega rap star from that position she was in in reality. Well, and I think a lot of people don't understand how much money people make in reality or on streaming or in in loud content, you know, and the louder you get, the more they want to clean you up. So, OK, for just women, then women, women and relations, people in relations, not even women, you know, people in relationships. You get into an argument. You get mad. You go on Instagram. You know, said it at it. And then the next day you got together eating a pizookie at BJ's or how much. So for me, I look at it as it was great content because how much of it was real and was it not for us watching? We don't know. We don't know how clever the artist is. So but my for you, why do you and Princess fell for divorce and then take it off the table and then put it back on? Because because that's how we felt at the time. And a lot of people do that in even real life. We're just somebody to to to see that a lot of people can relate to. And the more uncut it is, the more people can relate because it's more honest. And I think it's it's it's it's unapologetic. So a lot of people hide it. You never know about it. And then you got people like us that just live throughout our day and people that are watching that can go, that's what I'm going through. And it still doesn't feel good. So it doesn't feel good for the person watching unless they're in like this, like comedy mood or it takes them into a dark place, just like it does us. You know, I don't know why we're still married. I don't know why we still have the kind of love we have for each other. But I think is leaning more now towards unconditional love. And that's where there's no conditions around it. And I think the more successful anybody gets, whether it's vice versa or together, and the more you know somebody, the more the conditions start to wipe away and the more unconditional it feels. And it is that means I know who you are and I know you're going to do this. But I still love you. And and nothing can stop me loving you. I just know who you are. And so I know what to expect from you. And and so that's what it is. But I know I love my kids. I know Princess is a real warrior at being a mom. And she's a great mom. And she spends unlimited amount of time with the kids. Do I want to spend a limited amount of time with the kids, too? Absolutely. And I hope we get to that place where we can, where finances and and make sure everything is set doesn't matter, at least for a certain time. And I said, you know, you ever see a day where you and Princess get it back on track fully, get back together, take the divorce completely off the table, get in the same household and bring your family back together and raise your kids as not as co-parents, but as as a married couple. I would love that. And I think that takes time. It takes some adjustments and it takes unlimited finances. That being said, if you you know, if you would like that and you want that again with the antics, why do you do certain stuff like pop out on on social media with a contestant from your you're ready to love the show and be with her? Love Cabin. Love Cabin. Pop out. What did I say? What did I say? You said ready to love. But guess what? That's that's the old danger. She snatched the homies. That's for the love arranging. But guess what? But let me ask. I like ready to love. Oh, you do like that show. You watch that show. Is that a show? Ready to love? Yeah. Yeah. What's going on? That's I mean, that's for like the, you know, the Oprah Winfrey. Oh, the demo, the demo, Oprah, Oprah demo. Yeah. But anyways, I'm saying I just like the title. Because I like the title. If why do you why do you do stuff like, you know, pop out on on social media with with contestants from your zoo show or whatever the case may be? And stick around. They stick around for a while. Why? Well, why does LeBron have to hit the three pointer if they're down by two? I don't get that metaphor. The metaphor is I'm working. You know, I'm working. Everybody has a job to do. Unfortunately, I'm not six nine. I was supposed to be, but I started smoking weed when I was 12 or 13. I don't think that has anything. It's done in my growth. No, it didn't. I mean, we can argue that the fact because Steph Curry is not that tall, but he's one of the greatest of all time. So, yeah, I get it. But I'm saying everybody has a job to do. All right. Listen, CNN has a job to do. OK, Fox has a job to do. TMZ has a job to do, right? Right. TMZ is uncut. Even if TMZ loved me and we were the great, we have one of the greatest relationships. If I up, you talk, we talk about this. Yeah, if I make a big mistake, y'all might hit me and say what happened. But but you also are going to make it very clear. We're going to post this ----. I have no choice. You have no choice. We've been sold all the time. I go back to what you asked me from the beginning. Sometimes I have no choice. That's a lie. I don't. You have a choice. You guys have women and you guys have a choice to ignore a mistake somebody made. You have a choice to it, but not hang out with women on and post it on social media. You guys have a choice on what y'all want to post. You have a choice. We have an obligation. You do not have an obligation to. That's not true. Ho around. That is. That's not true, because a lot of times organization, because a lot of journalists, I'm a journalist. No, you're not. And that's not OK. What school did you go to? I went to. You don't have to go to. You don't have to go to. You don't have to go to school for journalism. Yes, you do. Shout out to FAMU School of Journalism. Shout out to FAMU. But shout out to stream streaming you and shout out to street you. Shout out to just being out there and just being curious. And that makes you a journalist. Absolutely. Because journalists are curious on what's right and what's wrong and what's going on in today's stories. I feel like you're insulting my degree, but that's not fair. Because because you don't have to have a degree to be successful. That's true. And you don't have to have a degree to be the journalist. OK, anyways, back to what I was asking. We're done with you being a journalist. You're almost done with me, period. That part, I get it. You had some hits. I was at my group chat and I was like, damn, what's y'all's favorite Ray J song? And I forgot like we was a couple couple songs that were listed. And that existed in that decade when we were we were scaling music numbers. I've always been independent since one. Wait a minute was the only song I ever had that was on a major label that blew up. Everything else has all been 100 percent independent independent. One thousand percent. It is the most independent song I have. It's the it's the it's the asset that never stops giving. That's your is that like that's did you did you expect that song to blow up like the way it did? I really don't know where it is. I really don't know what anything is. I can only just keep pushing and keep being on time and keep keep fighting and pushing to what's on the schedule and what the mission is and complete the mission. Can you still sing like you sound good? I hope so. Can we hear some? Can we hear something? Why do that? Well, we're in a journalistic mode. I've already told you we've got to go. So that's a no. You're not going to sing for me. That's a lot. OK, that's a lot. Because you got to understand warm up. Well, it's not about that. It's about it's about fees. I said hit two bars. I get paid to hit two bars. One wish. I get paid to hit two bars. That's a lie. Like right now. Am I a singer? Mm hmm. Don't you got to get paid? Don't you got to go to like college to be a singer? No. So then why do you got to go to college to be a journalist? Did your sister go to college? Because your sister is one of the most iconic R&B singers. And so you don't think my sister went to college? I'm asking. That's very difficult, because she was doing major things by the time. She may have gone to college, but it wasn't in a traditional college since if she did. So my point exactly. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Nothing's traditional anymore. You didn't. You got to go back. You never said that. You're upset that plenty of times I said there's traditional journalism and there's a new wave of journalism. OK, you're the new wave. If I want to be, because I'm doing so much stuff. I love you. So you're too focused on journalists. So you're no, no music coming from Ray J. It might be. I'm also a marketer. What would it take for you to release an album or an EP, like a five, five, five single, five single EP? I don't know. You know, I don't know. It's not me. You know, it has to do with a full team of people that have to make the decisions that are sitting on the board. I just thought about something. Brandy was killing it. And then, you know, you want to order coattails to get in. But would you consider yourself like a nepo brother? You know, like there's nepo babies. Do you consider yourself a nepo brother? I don't know what that means. You don't know what a nepo baby is? A nepo baby? Yeah. Nepo, you know, nepotism is. Yeah, but but what do you what are you asking me like in full? Well, if you knew what a nepo baby was and you would know what I'm asking you. So a nepo baby is someone. A coattail rider. Not really. I mean, it can be. It is. It can't be and or can be. It's either it can be or it can't. It is. They're using that. They might have a famous parents, you know, and they use their parents fame, fandom, famed them to better. So as a journalist asking me this question. Yeah, this is a great question. As a journalist point of view. So with Brandy and Ray J, who got the first TV show, Brandy and Ray J? And which shows was it? Was it Pia or was it the Sinbad show? Which one? Which one was the biggest and which one was first? Who was the first? Who got their first starring show? That's not fair. Now you're now you're just being a you're being an onlooker. No, I'm not. Who became a household name first? A household name started with music. It didn't start with TV shows. So you're you're you're you're sitting there telling me. So Brandy, so Brandy dropped self-titled Brandy before I even. The Phenomenal album. One of her greatest. Phenomenal. Which shifted the narrative for all everything in our family, which gave everybody an opportunity to shine. It had nothing to do with TV. Brandy was known before. Right. So do you consider yourself as a as an epo? No, no, no. As a how as a household name. So we're all putting in work. OK. Right. Right. You have TV shows, then you have music. Right. The two different things. Correct. TV shows were happening. My sister dropped a big album and everything changed. Is this question happening because of us going back and forth on journalism? No, this question is happening because I am a good journalist. And you made a statement which prompted me to ask the question. So and now all of this could probably be like cut in and cut out. But since we're just going here. And I hate to do numbers. OK, I hate numbers. But if you compare anybody that's ever sang a song or did a song, OK, or even journalistic activities, the amount of earbuds that I sold or the amount of bikes that I sold. Right. It outweighs anybody's platinum albums because for every million albums sold and for every million earbuds I sold, it's eight times to one. And I don't know why you're shaking your head because a lot because here's what I want to say. A lot of things people do aren't in the public. They're behind the scenes. So there's big dogs that's running. There's big dogs that's running a lot of a lot of companies. Nobody knows who they are unless you're in that business. Does that make them less successful than the person that's singing the song? Nope. But do you think those same opportunities would be granted to that person had they not become a megastar due to their sister's album making her and their family a household name? I think that none of this is fair. What we've talked about. I think that we're still clashing. We're still clashing on. Do you think you're a nepo brother? Yes or no. I think that's a very inappropriate question. Yes or no. Please. It's a very inappropriate question. And it's very it's like that. It's very it's just very inappropriate. How can I say this? You just compared earbuds and and and bikes to the album Brandy and the movie Cinderella. No, I didn't. And the show. No, I compared it to journalism because I wouldn't be here without brandy. Thank you. I wouldn't be in these positions that I'm in as far as entertainment without my sister. Thank you. So you're my mom and my dad. So you're an apple brother. That's what you want to call me. Right. I would have to go home. I would have to sit down and come up with what is the name that that that counters that right for journalism. My parents, because my parents, because not only did because my own way, that's fine. And so so you think I didn't afford my own way? I just I mean, you didn't think you don't think I made my own lane. That's what you're saying. No, no, no. I think you you use the opportunities that were given to you to forge your own lane. How it's fine. Everyone has it. There's nothing wrong with how you see. None of the things that none of the things that I've done relate to what Brandy and my mom and my dad believe in now. Yeah, now, but we're talking now and now, but back then when you was we're talking about you talking 20, 30 years ago. Yeah, that's that's what that puts you in a position to be where you are now. That's not true. Yes, it is. That's not 1000 percent. Selling electric bikes and selling earbuds have nothing to do when you put when you put that rain in front of my name. My name was never in front of them. When you when you when you post it on your social media and you're I'm an influencer. Like somebody's about to go on jack.com and buy the shirt because you're wearing it for whatever reason. I don't know. Why is that? Some people could just love to jack off. Anyways, last question for this podcast. Back in my journalism bag is about to be a serious one, OK? Now, OK. What? I mean, we can go back and forth all day. We can, but you got to go. Most journalists don't read on paper, but they do prompters and stuff. We don't do we don't have teleprompters. I mean, I'm just saying, well, I think half of the questions that I asked you are not even on this paper. So I think reading the paper, I think reading the paper is respectfully. It's not OK. This is turned into straight jokes. I don't think so. I think it's a very serious conversation. It was in the beginning. I think it is now. I'm about to turn until you start calling me Nepo brothers. I asked you a question. That's a fair question. As a journalist, that's a great question. I'm sorry you didn't like it. Because what you did was you shot down. You shot down all the things your parents did to build you up. That's not true. You did. You said you made your own, but I didn't. I said you made your own, but I didn't. I forged my own way is what I said. And I did, too. Five years from now, Ray. What do you want people to say about Ray J? Ray J got s***. I said I wanted to be the end to end it seriously. I'm very serious. Oh, for real. OK, five years from now, what do you want your kids to say about Ray J? About their father? I can't answer that because we're not we're we're five years before that. I can't answer that. Right. Well, like, you know, are you what kind of dad are you? I'm one of the greatest dads. Are you like a super hands on dad? I'm a super hands on as far as making sure my kids are good. Are you strict? Absolutely not. Not even a little bit. So no whooping. You don't whoop your kid. I would never touch my kids like that. Did you get whooped? Absolutely. Oh, you should have got some more than to whoop you enough. We're talking about in the 80s and the 90s. I got whooped, too. I know. What year are we talking about? I got out of 90s. Yeah, I got whooped up until I was like 15. So are we talking early 90s or late 90s? I was born in 1993. So I got whooped from 1993 until the 2000s. And what part of the 2000s? Probably by 2002. OK, so you got whooped for nine years. Yeah. Look, he can do math. I'm a journalist. Go on. No one. Everyone is laughing in here. You were straight jokes, my guy. And that's what and that's what most people underestimate me on. Let me not read my paper no more. I'm going to just we're going to read in papers is a little bit amateurish. What's your favorite Brandy song? I have everything in her catalog, you know. But if I have to go with mine on a personal note, then it would be one song. You know that song. What song? Which song? I'm asking you. You're a journalist. I'm asking you, what song is it? You just talked about Brandy having one of the biggest albums. And I was a Nepo brother. So what song? Which song would it be? Would it be A, I want to be down? Would it be B, the boy is mine? Would it be C, the best friend? Or would it be D? It's not B because you got took too long to think about it. So don't even put the. So which one? Best friend? Absolutely not. See, you don't even like you don't like Monica. So it can't be the boy. I love Monica. Does she like you? It doesn't matter. I love Monica and Monica is actually one of my favorite artists and actually one of the one of the most favorite people that I met after getting over. So is it the boy is mine is your favorite Brandy song? Absolutely not. You don't let me get to D. Now you're just making. What's your favorite Brandy song? And that would be on a test for journalism. All of the above. Well, no, it's it's letting the person that you're talking to finish. Because I wasn't finished. I was going to. Why did it take you so long? Because there's so many songs I like. I was going to give you one more, my actual favorite. And that was just a test. It was I'm a teacher. So you're a journalist. You're a teacher. You're a porn star. You're a teacher. I never said I was a porn star. Oh, never see. You said that you wanted people to know that you got. You're an abusive journalist. And we are going to end the podcast. No, I'm not. Don't say that. I think so. I'll be cutting this out. Oh, yeah. And at least we know that we have cutting like we have a little bit of room.